The new gesture technology that could kill the touchscreen

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Qualcomm has demoed a new gesture system at its Innovation Qualcomm event in Istanbul. It allows the user to control an interface without even having to touch the phone or tablet’s screen, and could spell the end of the touchscreen as we know it.

In move that anyone who has complained about smudges on their phone or tablet would be proud of, the system, which was briefly demoed by CEO Paul Jacobs on stage at the event, uses ultrasound picked up by the device's microphone to work out where your hands are.

In the demo, the CEO waved his hand over the phone, flicking through a carousel of images.

Qualcomm has said that the new technology should be in phones and tablets by the end of next year.

The technology, which Qualcomm claims is the digital sixth sense, will be embedded into the company’s chips in the future.

The CEO also demoed a new Augmented Reality app that the company has been working on, which allows people in a video shop to watch a trailer of a movie just by pointing their phone at a DVD case.

Pocket-lint is at the event and will try and get more time and details on the new features shortly.

Do you think the touchscreen could be superceded by a gesture control system? Let us know in the comments below...